September 26th, 2017 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

On Sept. 26, 1960, the first televised debate between presidential candidates took place in Chicago as Republican Richard M. Nixon and Democrat John F. Kennedy squared off.
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1888, T.S. Eliot was born.

SWEENEY AMONG THE NIGHTINGALES
by: T.S. Eliot (1888-1965)
PENECK Sweeney spreads his knees
Letting his arms hang down to laugh,
The zebra stripes along his jaw
Swelling to maculate giraffe.

The circles of the stormy moon
Slide westward toward the River Plate,
Death and the Raven drift above
And Sweeney guards the horned gate.

Gloomy Orion and the Dog
Are veiled; and hushed the shrunken seas;
The person in the Spanish cape
Tries to sit on Sweeney’s knees

Slips and pulls the table cloth
Overturns a coffee-cup,
Reorganized upon the floor
She yawns and draws a stocking up;

The silent man in mocha brown
Sprawls at the window-sill and gapes;
The waiter brings in oranges
Bananas figs and hothouse grapes;

The silent vertebrate in brown
Contracts and concentrates, withdraws;
Rachel née Rabinovitch
Tears at the grapes with murderous paws;

She and the lady in the cape
Are suspect, thought to be in league;
Therefore the man with heavy eyes
Declines the gambit, shows fatigue,

Leaves the room and reappears
Outside the window, leaning in,
Branches of wistaria
Circumscribe a golden grin;

The host with someone indistinct
Converses at the door apart,
The nightingales are singing near
The Convent of the Sacred Heart,

And sang within the bloody wood
When Agamemnon cried aloud,
And let their liquid droppings fall
To stain the stiff dishonoured shroud.

Sweeney Among the Nightingales was originally printed in Little Review, September, 1918.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Birds vie for position on power lines at dusk in Kansas City, Kansas, US.
CREDIT: AP PHOTO/CHARLIE RIEDEL

Human canvases modeling world famous artworks including Van Gogh’s Sunflowers and Edvard Munch’s The Scream take to the streets of London in a bid to mend Britain’s disconnect with art. Award winning body paint artist Sarah Attwell was commissioned by online art platform Rise Art to show that great art is for everybody, following research that revealed 1 in 6 Brits have never set foot in an art gallery.
CREDIT: ADRIAN BROOKS/IMAGEWISE

A participant balances on a slackline over the Old Town Square in Prague, Czech Republic. This event was part of campaign supporting diabetic people.
CREDIT: EPA/MARTIN DIVISEK
Market Closes for September 26^th, 2017

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
On this day in 1914, the US Federal Trade Commission is established.
Canada
By Kristine Owram
     (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks snapped a rally that saw the benchmark index gain 2.6 percent in eight trading days, edging lower as falling metals prices weighed on mining shares.
     The S&P/TSX Composite Index lost 42 points or 0.3 percent to 15,474.12 as the materials sector fell 1.1 percent. Gold prices tumbled as Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said the U.S. central bank should be “wary of moving too gradually,” pressuring shares of miners such as Eldorado Gold Corp., which fell 4.8 percent.
     Industrials were the only gainers, up 0.2 percent as Bombardier Inc. jumped 6.1 percent. Reuters reported the planemaker is in talks with China’s three biggest airlines.
     In other moves:
                          
                          Stocks
* Freshii Inc. plunged 35 percent after the chain slashed its store-opening forecast
* Lucara Diamond Corp. rose 5.2 percent. The miner sold a 1,109- carat diamond for $53 million
* Crew Energy Inc. rose 3 percent as the energy index fell 0.2 percent. The stock was raised to top pick at Cormark
                         Commodities
* Western Canada Select crude oil traded at an $11.30 discount to WTI, unchanged from Monday
* Aeco natural gas traded at a $2.04 discount to Henry Hub
* Gold fell 0.7 percent to $1,297.70 an ounce
                          FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar strengthened 0.1 percent to C$1.2358 per U.S. dollar, its first gain in eight trading days, after Finance Minister Bill Morneau said he’s confident the economy can keep humming as the loonie rises
* The Canada 10-year government bond yield rose two basis points to 2.11 percent
US
By Eric J. Weiner
     (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks crept higher as Janet Yellen warned that the Federal Reserve should be wary of tightening monetary policy too gradually. The dollar gave back some earlier gains and Treasuries added to losses.
     The S&P 500 Index all but erased its increase in the final 30 minutes of trading to finish essentially unchanged, while technology shares climbed and small caps rose to a record. Bloomberg’s dollar index, which had jumped the most since January in early trading, retreated but remained positive as the Fed chair said raising interest rates gradually is the appropriate policy stance considering the uncertainty surrounding inflation. Yields on 10-year treasuries held at 2.23 percent.
     “It looks like the committee is headed toward a December hike unless something disappoints on the inflation side,” Dennis DeBusschere, head of portfolio strategy at Evercore ISI, said by phone. “But beside that, it’s total uncertainty because Yellen is less likely to be here after that. What the speech seemed to do is give you a lot of different scenarios, all of which will be the job for the new Fed chair to handle.”
     The euro fell to a five-week low following the steepest drop of the year on Monday after U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May’s comments on Brexit negotiations. The yen pared some of the previous day’s gains, which followed North Korea’s declaration it could shoot down U.S. warplanes. WTI crude declined, though was still close to a five-month high after Turkey threatened to shut down Kurdish crude shipments. Emerging market shares tumbled.
     Markets have been oscillating between risk-on and risk-off stances since early August as tensions simmer on the Korean Peninsula. Now, an assortment of geopolitical risks appear set to further cloud the outlook, not least the worry that gains by far-right parties in Germany’s vote signal a new populist bent in Europe.
     “As we saw with the German elections, the populist undercurrent is still there in Europe,” Charles Diebel, head of rates at Aviva Investors on London, said in an interview with Bloomberg TV’s Mark Barton. “That could be more fundamental to the progress for Europe.”
     Read more in our story, Global Markets on Edge as Elections Thrust Politics Back to Fore.
     This week’s bevy of central bank speakers continues to offer more clues to the path of monetary policy and the fate of stimulus. Investors also are monitoring the ongoing saga of President Donald Trump’s domestic policies in an attempt to gauge the chances of meaningful tax reform in the world’s biggest economy.
     What to watch out for this week:
* U.S. data on durable-goods orders, GDP and personal spending later in the week will provide further clues as to the Fed’s policy path.
* Brexit negotiations are getting underway again.
* Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy will meet U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington Tuesday while his team back in Madrid attempts to turn the screws on a secessionist push in Catalonia.
* The euro-area inflation rate may have accelerated a touch to 1.6 percent in September from 1.5 percent but the core will probably remain at 1.2 percent when data is out on Friday.

      And here are the main moves in markets:

                             Stocks
* The S&P 500 was little changed at 2,496.84, the Nasdaq 100 Index added 0.2 percent and the small cap Russell 2000 Index gained 0.3 percent to reach a record high.
* The Stoxx Europe 600 Index was little changed.
* The U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index fell 0.2 percent, while Germany’s DAX Index gained less than 0.1 percent.
* The MSCI All-Country World Index fell 0.3 percent to the lowest in over two weeks.
* The MSCI Emerging Market Index sank 0.8 percent to the lowest in more than a month.
                           Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index gained 0.3 percent to the highest since August.
* The euro sank 0.5 percent to $1.1792, the weakest in five weeks.
* The British pound dipped 0.1 percent to $1.3451, the lowest in more than a week. 
                           Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries added one basis point to 2.2322 percent.
* Germany’s 10-year yield increased one basis point to 0.406 percent.
* Britain’s 10-year yield fell less than one basis point to 1.33 percent.
                           Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude fell 0.5 percent to $51.94 a barrel.
* Gold declined 1.14 percent to $1,295.85 an ounce.
                            Asia
* Japan’s Topix index closed flat after trading in a narrow range. South Korea’s Kospi index fell 0.3 percent and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index lost 0.2 percent.
* Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index added less than 0.1 percent after slumping 1.4 percent on Monday as Chinese property developers tumbled on fresh mainland home curbs. Read how one of the world’s most extreme stock rallies gets a reality check.
* The Japanese yen decreased 0.2 percent to 111.98 per dollar.

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

Be magnificent!

Selfishness in man is a beginning.
Rabindranath Tagore

As ever,

Carolann

Defeat is not the worst of failures.  Not to have tried is the true failure.
                                       -George Edward Woodberry, 1855-1930

Carolann Steinhoff, B.Sc., CFP®, CIM, CIWM
Portfolio Manager &
Senior Vice-President

Queensbury Securities Inc.,
St. Andrew’s Square,
Suite 340A, 730 View St.,
Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7

Tel: 778.430.5808
(C): 250.881.0801
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www.carolannsteinhoff.com